Message from the Board Chair

Twenty years ago, L.A. Care was launched as one of two plans identified by the state of California to meet the needs of Medi-Cal recipients in Los Angeles County. Since 1997, L.A. Care has shown the success of this “Two-Plan Model,” which is a system of care that brings together a publicly operated community-accountable health plan and a for-profit health plan to engage in healthy competition and to support the local health care safety net. This, in turn, ensures access to quality health care, provides consumer choice and improves the quality of care for Medi-Cal recipients and the community we serve. This model also ensures a source of support for the local health care safety net – physicians, community clinics, the hospitals and other providers who care for the uninsured and the underinsured.

As L.A. Care looks back on 20 years of serving Los Angeles County, we are also looking to the future. Today, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act, L.A. Care meets the health care needs of more than two million Medi-Cal members, and we also have thousands of members in other health coverage products, making L.A. Care truly the health plan for all of L.A.

What made L.A. Care unique two decades ago still makes us unique now:

A stakeholder Board of Governors that cares passionately about the people we serve

One of the most robust consumer advisory programs in the nation that provides a direct pipeline from our consumers to the board;

A partner to state and local governments

While supporting the health care safety net, L.A. Care will continue to be a critical part of the health care fabric of Los Angeles County, and a successful model for state and federal officials when considering how to best deliver quality, affordable, local and accessible health care to the most vulnerable people in Los Angeles County.